Features I'd like to see in DroneLink
Overall, I find DL to be quite useful. But I find myself repeating steps way too often. I've been using it for a little over a week. It was recommended by some other pilots. I've flown 77 missions in it, so I think that's enough to qualify me to make suggestions about my experience. I have not had time to watch videos, or dig in the documentation. Overall it works well and is pretty intuitive. If any of these things are a setting I have not found please let me know.
Here are some features I'd like to see:
1) The ability to define my own defaults. I never fly maps at DL's default settings. They are almost always 75/65/75.
Why do I have to constantly go reset these on every mission/map?
2) The ability to create pre-set mission types... i.e. a map using my defaults at a preset height.
3) The ability to disable the "estimating mission" on large maps. This cost me 2 to 4 minutes per battery change on a project last week. Over the course of 15 batteries this ran me out of daylight and I have to spend half a day Friday re-doing that map. Scream doesn't begin to describe my frustration. I'm running on an iPhone 14 Pro Max Plus and iPad Mini... both should be more than fast enough for whatever bubble sort algorithm is running. Truth of the matter is I just want the drone to fly and make progress. The time remaining is not super accurate anyway so it doesn't matter to me.
4) Stop zooming in to my take off point after every battery change. I have to zoom back out.... that shouldn't be necessary. Ideally don't change my zoom.
5) The preview window (lower left) acts funky when you swap live view and map. The map goes to some portion of the project without being able to move it around......
6) Display RC battery status.... specifically charging, not charging, low battery.
Comments
11 comments
Ok both 1 & 2 there are several ways to do these with the use of repositories and clipboard.
how did 3 cause you to run out of batteries
Never had 4 happen, what drone are you flying
No problem moving the map around here
My rc shows it own battery status
1 and 2. - Copy and Paste is not a substitute for preferences and settings. That's a work around for a lack of functionality. Another stick to add to this fire is having to manually set the max drone speed in the mission, every time. This gets old..... fast. And it opens the door to making mistakes if you forget to set something.
I'm using repositories to group related missions. Similar to folders in a file system.
3 - I never said I ran out of batteries. I ran out of daylight. The mission estimate was for 2 hours 10 minutes. I rounded that up to 3 hours. No big deal. First photo was at 2:36 and by 6:15pm I still was not done. The calculations chewed up 2 to 4 minutes per battery change. Over the course of 15 batteries, this adds up to 45 minutes of time spent. Client will not accept a map captured on two days, so I have to go back and re-do the entire map. The map was admittedly large, but it was within the scope of the drone and RC wasn't an issue. The site was 432 acres at 300 feet AGL. Yes, the stupid "large map" box popped up. I did read it. It said nothing about spending 4 minutes per battery waiting on the software to re-estimate the time remaining...... which isn't important beyond having an idea of how long the mission will take in it's entirety. The box looked like a standard "you might lose control of your drone, be careful" type warning.
While we are on the subject, there ought to be a "split" or "slice" feature to break a map up. Use cases include unplanned obstacles like trees where you are being asked to capture the roof at one level except for areas with obstructions where you need to raise the AGL and minimize overlap.
I am flying a Mavic 2 Pro and running DL on an iPad Mini 2022 (or whatever the current model is) and an iPhone 14 Pro Max.
The map movement issue is when you swap the live view and map. Put the map in the small window (picture in picture) and then it's not centered on the drone and can't be moved. I am most likely to make the live view the big picture (main window) when I'm at the beginning of the mission or when I'm near obstacles. Sometimes I do it because I like the view, sometimes to see what the weather is nearby, or sometimes it's because I want to stop the drone when I get to a specific point. I often find myself looking at the view and wondering exactly where the drone is at on the map plan as it's traveling to the start point. I had a mission yesterday where there was a high voltage power line too close to the building and too close to my mission for my comfort. I was in a bad data coverage location, so editing the mission would have required packing up, going to Wifi, editing and coming back..... I already had a full day so that was unattractive. Instead at the end of the mission where it might encroach on the power line tower I just watched live view and stopped the drone manually. Ideally I would have walked over there, but wading through standing water and high weeds just isn't going to happen when I can manage it remotely with the camera view.
I'm doing a large number of mapping missions and I normally place the RC on top of the truck and place the ipad or iphone in the truck. I've figured out a way to re-pupose my MavMount to hold my iPad and iPhone on the side of the passenger seat. Works surprisingly well and holds it at the right height to view it. Putting the RC on top of the truck provides an excellent signal and I can grab it for manual flight if needed. I can also hit the RTH button if I need to.
I did not used to do this, but doing this solves problems with ipad / iphone battery life, overheating, and being able to read the screen. iOS turn the screen down when they get too warm.... and leaving them in the Texas sun will make them too warm shortly. I realize some people might hold the RC/iOS device for the whole mission, but that isn't practical either IMHO. Not for automated missions that last anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour each.
As I said in my prior post, the software is great. I subscribe as a business user because I'm using it for business. I love being able to setup and edit my missions on my computer. I love being able to swap devices. These solve problems for me that I had with Pix4D. However, there are some rough edges that would make the UX better if they were addressed.
I think Martin was just trying to be helpful. Since we don’t have this feature right now, the recommended solution is to create a Map component in a repository as a template. When you go to create a new mission plan for mapping, create a blank plan and include that component from your repository - it will ask you to reposition it to where your mission plan is.
The reason this warning is in there is because we know that large maps result in a poor user experience and it would be better if you just split the map into multiple mission plans. Automatic splitting is a feature request that is already on the list :)
Are you using the Classic or Modern dashboard? If modern, have you tried the “docked” map view instead of swapping it to full screen? This won’t fix the issue of it recentering, but it does give you a bit of a larger map view than the overlay version, and could avoid having to swap the map back and forth.
Ok if you're willing to share a mission by posting a link to it here, I'll demonstrate how easy it is for me to move it to a site here in the UK, with all its settings, within a couple of clicks.
The functionality is there and there are plenty of articles on here that explain how to use it
Yeah that's how i use repos as well, most of mine are by county or area, I also have one for all the components I've created
His comment came across differently. He really should consider that someone who has been using the software for less than 2 weeks, has flown over 75 missions with it and has a laundry list of feedback suggestions may have already discovered copy and paste.
Repositories are immensely helpful... but another layer is needed to manage clutter. I'd love to have a Future and Archive folder for repositories where I could stage upcoming projects and place past projects. I mostly do work for a couple different platforms and it comes and goes. So right now my subscription is active, but I don't have enough drone related work to justify carrying the software full time. That's one of the things DL gets very right is having flexible subscription models that can be invoked as needed. That may create some recurring revenue headaches..... At one point I worked for 2 different software companies so I have a good understanding of license revenue.
Is there a dashboard in the app on the phone or ipad?
I don't mind the overlay as this is how Pix4D and DJI Go4 work. It's an intuitive interface and most of the time I don't really need to see any detail of what the drone sees. I'm working around it by swapping back and forth. Simply centering the small window on the drone would cure the issue I'm seeing.
I'll be offline most of the day. Time to go send the drone up in the air to catch dollars.
You can tap the settings icon on the map and have it follow the drone.
I'll try that.
I was playing with this yesterday and it works on the iPhone, but not on the iPad mini. I took a video of it not working on the iPad this morning. Probably too large to post here.
Post it you tube or some other hosting service (Dropbox, google drive. one drive) and post a public share link here
Most of what I work on is not for public consumption. I will not be sharing data, flight plans, video, or images with you. I may be willing to share them with the staff at DroneLink provided I have assurances it will remain private.
Speaking of default setting, as a business user I'd expect to be able to default my repositories to private. Most commercial clients do not want their flightplans, images, and locations shared. All of my clients insist on an NDA.
It's not the end of the world to check it every time, but it's annoying. It's an opportunity to miss a checkbox.
This sort of stuff makes the platform seem immature to me.
You can send private vids to support@dronelink.com
Please sign in to leave a comment.